The
Organ Music of
Sandra GAY Variations on Faith Journey (2000) Meditation and Dance on 'Weisse Flaggen'
(2000) A Host of Angels (2001) In God's Image (2001) Partita on a Hymn Tune of Tallis (1975)
With Shouts of Loud Praise (2000)
Carson COOMAN Jesus is the Sunlight (2001) From Past to Future (2001) When the Morning Stars Began to Sing (2001)
With Quiet Joy and Inner Peace (2000)
Sandra Gay and Carson Cooman, organ
Rec. Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester,
New York
ZIMBEL ZR101 [66'54]

This is a collection
of mostly recent compositions by two
active American church musician/composers.
Carson's pieces are based on hymn tunes
by Alfred V Fedak, while the last pair
of pieces on the disc are duets. The
music is mostly harmonically static
and unremarkable. In genre it ranges
from little more than American 'bubble-gum'
commercial service music, ('Variations
on Faith Journey’, 'Meditation and Dance
on Weisse Flaggen' - British readers
will equally understand the genre to
which I'm referring) to Gay's more harmonically
interesting but listless A Host of
Angels. The latter is a short suite
of five pieces with titles such as Angel
Dust, Guardian Angels and Angels
Praising God.

The organ is a crashingly
dull 1956 Austin in a dead acoustic.
Perhaps some of the pieces - Gay's Variations
on a Hymn Tune of Tallis and Carson's
music in general come to mind - could
have sounded rather more effective on
a quality instrument in a good space.
Both player/composers revel endlessly
in the colourless celestes, though all
playing on the disc is perfectly competent.

The inlay card consists
of a brief biography of both composers
and even briefer thumbnail descriptions
of each piece. Probably the raison d'etre
for the disc was partially to sell scores,
Zimbel - of which Sandra Gay is president
- also publish a number of the works.

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